2018 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team

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2018 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
DivisionWestern Division
CBNo. 4
Record39–29 (15–15 SEC)
Head coach
Home stadiumDudy Noble Field, Polk–DeMent Stadium
Seasons
← 2017
2019 →
2018 Southeastern Conference baseball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
East Division
No. 3 Florida  x‍‍y 20 10   .667 49 21   .700
No. 20 Georgia  ‍‍‍y 18 12   .600 39 21   .650
No. 12 South Carolina ‍‍‍y 17 13   .567 37 26   .587
No. 16 Vanderbilt  ‍‍‍y 16 14   .533 35 27   .565
Kentucky  ‍‍‍ 13 17   .433 34 22   .607
Missouri  ‍‍‍ 12 18   .400 34 22   .607
Tennessee  ‍‍‍ 12 18   .400 29 27   .518
West Division
No. 19 Ole Miss  x‍‍y 18 12   .600 48 18   .727
No. 2 Arkansas  x‍‍‍y 18 12   .600 48 21   .696
No. 15 Auburn  ‍‍‍y 15 15   .500 43 23   .652
LSU  ‍‍‍y 15 15   .500 39 27   .591
No. 4 Mississippi State  ‍‍‍y 15 15   .500 39 29   .574
Texas A&M  ‍‍‍y 13 17   .433 40 22   .645
Alabama  ‍‍‍ 8 22   .267 27 29   .482
x – Division champion
† – Conference champion
‡ – Tournament champion
y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
Rankings from Collegiate Baseball


The 2018 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team represents the Mississippi State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I baseball season. The Bulldogs play their home games at Dudy Noble Field. Due to construction of the new Dudy Noble Field, the first home game was not played until March 6, to give construction crews time to finish the bottom seating of the stadium. The new Dudy Noble Field in its entirety will not be completed until the 2019 season.

Personnel[edit]

Coaching staff[edit]

2018 Mississippi State Bulldogs coaching staff
  • Andy Cannizaro – Head Coach (first 3 games) – 2nd year
  • Gary Henderson – Pitching Coach – 2nd year; Interim Head Coach (starting game 4)
  • Jake Gautreau – Assistant Coach – 1st year
  • Mike Brown – Coordinator of Camps/Volunteer Assistant – 2nd year
  • A.J. Gaura – Coordinator of Baseball Player Development – 1st year
  • Trevor Fitts – Coordinator of Baseball Operations – 1st year
  • Justin Aguiar – Coordinator of Video & Analytics - 1st year

Schedule and results[edit]

2018 Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball game log
Regular season (31–24)
Post-season (8–5)
College World Series (2–2)
Date Opponent Rank Site/stadium Score Win Loss Save TV Attendance Overall record CWS record
June 16 vs. #7 Washington #8 TD Ameritrade ParkOmaha, NE W 1–0 Zach Neff (4–3) Alex Hardy (5–3) none ESPN 24,758 38–27 1–0
June 18 vs. (6) #3 North Carolina #8 TD Ameritrade Park • Omaha, NE Postponed to 6/19, inclement weather
June 19 vs. (6) #3 North Carolina #8 TD Ameritrade Park • Omaha, NE W 12–2 Konnor Pilkington (3–6) Austin Bergner (7–3) Cole Gordon (4) ESPN2 13,387 39–27 2–0
June 22 vs. (3) #1 Oregon State #8 TD Ameritrade Park • Omaha, NE L 2–12 Brandon Eisert (5–3) Jacob Billingsley (5–4) none ESPN 21,002 39–28 2–1
June 23 vs. (3) #1 Oregon State #8 TD Ameritrade Park • Omaha, NE L 2–5 Kevin Abel (6–1) Ethan Small (5–4) none ESPN 21,821 39–29 2–2

† Indicates the game does not count toward the 2018 Southeastern Conference standings.
*Rankings are based on the team's current ranking in the Collegiate Baseball poll.

Record vs. conference opponents[edit]

Last two do not qualify for conf. tourn. Blank are not scheduled. Blue are home games, otherwise away.

Source: 2018 SEC baseball game results

Team W–L ALA ARK AUB FLA UGA KEN LSU MSU MIZZ MISS SCAR TENN TAMU VAN Team Div SR SW
ALA 8–22 0–3 0–3 . 1–2 2–1 1–2 1–2 2–1 1–2 . 0–3 0–3 . ALA W7 2–8 0–4
ARK 18–12 3–0 3–0 1–2 1–2 3–0 1–2 0–3 . 1–2 2–1 . 3–0 . ARK W2 5–5 4–1
AUB 15–15 3–0 0–3 1–2 . 1–2 2–1 2–1 1–2 0–3 . . 2–1 3–0 AUB W3 5–5 2–2
FLA 20–10 . 2–1 2–1 2–1 2–1 . 0–3 3–0 . 2–1 2–1 2–1 3–0 FLA E1 9–1 2–1
UGA 18–12 2–1 2–1 . 1–2 1–2 . . 3–0 1–2 3–0 2–1 2–1 1–2 UGA E2 6–4 2–0
KEN 13–17 1–2 0–3 2–1 1–2 2–1 . 2–1 2–1 . 2–1 1–2 . 0–3 KEN E5 5–5 0–2
LSU 15–15 2–1 2–1 1–2 . . . 2–1 2–1 1–2 0–3 3–0 1–2 1–2 LSU W4 5–5 1–1
MSU 15–15 2–1 3–0 1–2 3–0 . 1–2 1–2 1–2 2–1 . . 1–2 0–3 MSU W5 4–6 2–1
MIZZ 12–18 1–2 . 2–1 0–3 0–3 1–2 1–2 2–1 . 1–2 2–1 . 2–1 MIZZ E6 4–6 0–2
MISS 18–12 2–1 2–1 3–0 . 2–1 . 2–1 1–2 . 1–2 2–1 2–1 1–2 MISS W1 7–3 1–0
SCAR 17–13 . 1–2 . 1–2 0–3 1–2 3–0 . 2–1 2–1 3–0 2–1 2–1 SCAR E3 6–4 2–1
TENN 12–18 3–0 . . 1–2 1–2 2–1 0–3 . 1–2 1–2 0–3 2–1 1–2 TENN E7 3–7 1–2
TAMU 13–17 3–0 0–3 1–2 1–2 1–2 . 2–1 2–1 . 1–2 1–2 1–2 . TAMU W6 3–7 1–1
VAN 16–14 . . 0–3 0–3 2–1 3–0 2–1 3–0 1–2 2–1 1–2 2–1 . VAN E4 6–4 2–2
Team W–L ALA ARK AUB FLA UGA KEN LSU MSU MIZZ MISS SCAR TENN TAMU VAN Team Div SR SW

Updated for entire regular season.

Rankings[edit]

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
Week
PollPre12345678910111213141516Final
Coaches'[1]1515*15*RVRVRVRVRV*RV*6
Baseball America[2]25—*—*6
Collegiate Baseball^[3]131684
NCBWA[4]1725272621RVRVRVRV28RV1616*4

^ Collegiate Baseball ranked 40 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranked 30 teams weekly during the season.
NCBWA ranks 35 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season.
* A new poll was not released for this week, so for comparison purposes, the previous week's ranking is inserted in this week's slot.

MLB Draft[edit]

Player Position Round Overall MLB Team
Konnor Pilkington LHP 3 81 Chicago White Sox
J P France RHP 14 432 Houston Astros
Hunter Stovall 2B 21 636 Colorado Rockies
Ethan Small LHP 26 789 Arizona Diamondbacks
Zach Neff LHP 31 934 Minnesota Twins
Jake Mangum LHP 32 950 New York Mets
Jacob Billingsley RHP 32 972 Houston Astros

[5]

†Small, a redshirt sophomore, returns to MSU for the next season.[6]
‡Mangum, a junior, returns to MSU for the next season. Although Mangum had almost exclusively played CF in college and pitched very little, he was drafted as a pitcher.[7]

Recruiting[edit]

Mississippi State is ranked 8th by Perfect Game for its 2018 recruiting class, in spite of having two players, Carter Stewart and J. T. Ginn, both RHPs, go in the 1st round of the MLB draft and two more, Eric Cerantola and Sam Knowlton, both also RHPs, go in the 33rd and 39th, who did not sign to play professionally after this draft, although there is some speculation that Stewart may go JUCO instead. Stewart does go JUCO and after all teams have defections due to major league signings, Mississippi State is ranked 6th.[6][8][9] Perfect Game only covers commitments out of high school. There is also a JUCO player, Gunner Halter, SS, taken in the 26th round who plans to play for Mississippi State.[10] There are also two high schoolers that were not drafted, probably due to difficulty of being signed, who were projected as top 10 rounders, Hayden Jones, C, and Christian McLeod, LHP.[9][11][12] In addition to the four RHPs, C, LHP, and JUCO SS mentioned above, high school players also include three OFs, a RHP, two SSs, and a C.[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "USA Today Coaches' Poll". Archived from the original on July 10, 2017. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  2. ^ Baseball America Poll
  3. ^ "2018 Collegiate Baseball Polls - Collegiate Baseball Newspaper".
  4. ^ "NCBWA > News".
  5. ^ "Mississippi State Baseball Has Seven Players Drafted In 2018 MLB Draft". FanSided Inc. June 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
  6. ^ a b "MSU signee, MLB first-round pick Stewart doesn't sign with Braves". Starkville Daily News. July 6, 2018. Archived from the original on July 7, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  7. ^ "Jake Mangum Announces He's Returning To Mississippi State Baseball". FanSided Inc. June 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  8. ^ "College Recruit Rankings Class of 2018". Perfect Game. 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  9. ^ a b c "Mississippi State's HS Recruits Class of 2018". Perfect Game. 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  10. ^ "Halter chooses MSU over professional path". Starkville Daily News. July 3, 2018. Archived from the original on July 4, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  11. ^ "2018 MSU Baseball Signee Hayden Jones Update". CBS INTERACTIVE. May 23, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  12. ^ "LHP Christian MacLeod Primed for Immediate Impact at MSU". CBS INTERACTIVE. July 1, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2017.